Something New
by ChronicDaydreamer2019
Summary: As gang members, Mikan Sakura and her friends didn't have the best reputation. They did as they pleased, even if it resulted in them being treated as outcasts in their hometown. When the chance for a change arrives, they decide to go for it and head for Alice Academy. But can they really escape their past?
1. Chapter 1

Dawn gradually approached, signalling the end of another night and the start of another day. However, for five girls, the dawn they currently watched from the rooftop of their apartment building meant more than that. To them, this dawn dawn signaled the end of an era.

In their hometown of Kabukicho, Japan, Mikan Sakura, Hotaru Imai, Sumire Shouda, Anna Umenomiya, and Nonoko Ogasawara didn't have the best reputation. The students and teachers at their high school feared them because of their absolute disregard for authority, and residents in their apartment building referred to them as problem children because of some made-up association between their lack of parental guidance and their life on the streets. The gangs they fought with called them bitches because that's just what they came off as: bitches.

But they couldn't have cared less. To them, nothing mattered except for each other and the few other members in their gang. How the five girls met and how they became so close remained a mystery to most, but to the few they trusted, they summed up their history in a few words: "We were together in a bad place at the right time."

One could never find one of them alone; these girls tend to travel in groups, or with at least one other person from their circle, at all times. So, there they stood at 4:32 AM, together on the rooftop of the apartment building in which they grew up, relishing the final moments of their reign of terror. In less than an hour, they would board a train headed to Tokyo, Japan to begin a new life at some school called Alice Academy.

Sumire let out a sigh as she remembered the events leading up to this change. She knew she held the blame. She was the one that beat up the teacher who had been discriminating her friends, and she was the one who had been expelled. The others didn't have to drop out of school with her, but they did because, as mentioned before, they always did things together.

Sumire glanced over at Mikan, who looked at her at the same time. _If it weren't for Mikan, the five of us would be screwed_, she thought.

"Hey, Sumire. You still owe me $5 for the candy," Mikan started.

"Wow. Way to ruin the mood."

They softly smiled at each other, just before the sun slid into view, blinding them.

"There it is. Our time here is up," Anna said gently. She gently nudged Nonoko, who had fallen asleep next to her while waiting for the sunrise.

Nonoko grimaced at the bright light. "I guess we should head to the station now," she slurred and ended with a yawn.

Hotaru grunted her approval of this plan, and the five of them proceeded down the flight of stairs. As they exited the apartment building for the last time, Anna waved politely to the security guard; he glared at her and the others in return.

Without a doubt, the girls labeled Anna as the kindest of the group; she persistently continued to treat everyone well, even if they hated her and her friends. She acted like a mother to their gang, cooking for them, tending to their wounds, and scolding them for going overboard. The girls appreciated her so much, and Sumire felt especially grateful when she heard that Anna sided with her after her expulsion.

Mikan and Sumire returned the security guard's glare with their own glares, whereas Hotaru and Nonoko remained indifferent. Really, none of their neighbors would miss them. They continued walking through the empty streets in silence until they reached the station.

"This is really it, huh," Mikan said under her breath, more to herself than to the others, who still heard her.

"There's no turning back now," Hotaru chided. "Make sure you thank your uncle again for this. We all needed something new."

"Hm~ I know," Mikan hummed. She stepped onto the train first. "Let's hope Alice Academy has that something."

* * *

Each of the girls possessed their own reasons for being without family and for joining a gang. For Mikan, she was family-less because her family was dead. Her dad passed away in an accident before she was born. Her mother raised her alone until Mikan was 8 before being killed in the crossfire of a gang war. Her grandfather took her in afterwards, but he passed away when she was 14. So, by that young age, she was already living on her own.

A few months into this independent lifestyle, she met the other girls, who had issues of their own. Together, they formed a small gang and vowed to protect each other and the other members of their newfound family.

While waiting for the train to leave the station, Mikan reflected on the last two chaotic weeks in Kabukicho.

When the school expelled Sumire during their second year of high school, it seemed a no brainer that the others boycott the injustice of the school system by dropping out themselves. However, when Sumire voiced that she wasn't planning on finishing her high school education, Anna blew a fuse.

"Sumire, you are going to graduate from high school, and then you can do whatever you want."

"But Anna, no matter what high school we go to around here, we're going to be treated the same. Everyone in Kabukicho knows about us and what we do."

"So what? We've made it through two years just fine. Another two years wouldn't kill us."

"I just can't stand it here anymore. Everyone's all up in our fucking business. I want to go somewhere far away… I want a fresh start."

Mikan cleared her throat. "Well, why don't we just do that?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to her. "As if that's so easy," Hotaru muttered.

"I've been meaning to tell you guys this for a while, but someone contacted me a few months back…" She hesitated. "My dad's brother, so my uncle."

Hotaru, Sumire, Anna, and Nonoko remained quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"He lives in Tokyo, and he wanted to get to know me. He's never had the chance to meet me since I've been here all the time and since he's been so busy with work…" She trailed off.

"Get to the point," Sumire prodded.

"Okay, so he's the principal of this school in Tokyo. Alice School or Alice Academy or something like that. He asked if I could enroll in that school, so that he can watch over me and get to know me and stuff. I'm sure if I ask him, he could get you four in too. Since we're family, ya know?"

Mikan looked at her friends, waiting for a reaction. Finally, Nonoko spoke.

"I don't know, Mikan. It'd be great if that were possible, but you're his family, not us. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to deal with the rest of us, especially with our history." The others nodded in agreement.

Mikan addressed her points, having already prepared for this type of reaction. "I'm going to ask him anyway. I'm going to make it an all-or-nothing negotiation. Either he let's all of us into his school or I'm not going."

"That's stupid," Hotaru remarked bitterly.

Mikan pulled out her phone and pushed some buttons. Then she turned the phone screen to them, showing a paragraph of text. Before they could read it and before they could stop her, she hit send.

"Too late now. I just asked him," Mikan declared with an air of victory.

Hotaru sighed, and Nonoko scoffed. Sumire just stared at her as if she had just done the craziest shit possible, and Anna looked close to tears, not knowing what to say.

Mikan was about to settle down onto the couch next to Anna when her phone buzzed. She looked at it incredulously. _He responded so soon?_

The girls watched her intensely as she took out her phone. She read something for a long time, but when she broke out into a grin, they knew what to expect, even though it seemed like a dream.

"HE SAID YES," Mikan screamed.

"Are you sure? READ IT AGAIN CAREFULLY. DID HE REALLY SAY YES?" Sumire immediately questioned, even though she was already ecstatic.

Mikan read the message again to confirm that what she had read moments before wasn't some hallucination.

It was true.

"This can't be legit…He couldn't have made a decision that quickly."

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT GUESS WHAT? WE'RE GOING TO TOKYO, BABY," Mikan continued screaming.

Hotaru, Nonoko, and Anna froze, still slightly shocked by the sudden turn of events.

"Just watch this be a scam," Nonoko whispered to Hotaru. Hotaru nodded. These two were the most level-headed in the gang, and they weren't of the "go-with-the-flow" nature as the others were.

"When are we going?" Anna asked.

"He said he needs a week to handle the paperwork, so next week."

"That...That's very soon," Anna responded breathlessly. "We need to start packing. Like, right now. Get up, girls. No one is sleeping until we figure out what we're bringing and what we're leaving."

So, after a week full of cleaning, packing, and saying goodbye to the few other friends they had, the girls found themselves on a train to Tokyo.

"Finally, we're out of this hell hole," Sumire whispered to herself while looking out the train window to see Kabukicho disappear from her view.


	2. Chapter 2

The ride to Tokyo lasted around a short hour and a half, but that didn't stop Nonoko and Sumire from trying to get as much shut-eye as possible. They didn't usually wake up early to watch the sunrise, so as soon as they found seats on the train, they knocked out.

Anna looked with affection at the two sleepers and then turned her attention to Mikan and Hotaru. Mikan had been oddly quiet, and Hotaru looked deep in thought.

"What's up, you two?"

"Hm? Nothing~ I'm just excited," Mikan answered distractedly.

"Mikan, I have some questions for you," Hotaru decided to use this opportunity to get something off her mind.

"Yeah? Shoot."

"Your uncle. What's his name?"

"Kazumi Yukihira."

"Have you ever seen him in person? How do we know that the person you've been in contact with is actually him? What if you're being lured to Tokyo by some stranger?"

"I haven't met him, no. But I trust him. He knew things about my parents that strangers wouldn't know. His stories about them line up with my mom's stories, so…"

Hotaru was pleased by this answer. "Okay, that's good. Can I see that message he sent you again? The one that says that he'll admit all of us."

"Sure." Mikan grabbed her phone from her backpack and handed it to Hotaru. Hotaru scanned the words from the text conversation, and sure enough, the principal of Alice Academy welcomed them, all five of them, but he never explained why.

"Anything else, Hotaru?" Anna watched the interrogation in silence, and she understood why Hotaru couldn't fully trust Mikan's uncle yet. Even she felt unsure of the situation at hand. After all, realistically, who would so readily take in four strangers?

"I just don't understand why he would take all of us in. I mean, Alice Academy is a pretty top tier school. Usually only rich people attend. Even if he's the principal, giving all of us scholarships is a bit… it's a bit much, you know?" Hotaru voiced her doubts.

Anna agreed completely. "We can ask him about it when we meet him in Tokyo. For now, let's just be thankful." She reached over to pat Hotaru's hands that Hotaru clasped tightly in her lap. With Anna's touch, they relaxed a little.

However, Hotaru still seemed uneasy, and Mikan, not used to seeing this side of her always-confident best friend, attempted to lift the mood.

"What should we do when we get there? I wanna check out the malls. Gasp, what are we going to do when some city boys try to pick us up?"

"No one would try to pick up idiots like you. Don't worry. And we need to check in at the school before anything, so let's figure out what to do with our free time later, when everyone's awake." Hotaru let out a rare chuckle.

"Okie dokie artichokie," Mikan agreed. Then she added, "And hey, Hotaru? I can be attractive as hell when I want to be."

* * *

Soon after, even Mikan fell asleep. Only Anna and Hotaru stayed awake, and Anna could tell that something still bothered Hotaru.

"Really. What's up, Hotaru?"

"Nothing."

"For real."

"What are you, a human lie detector?"

Anna waited expectantly.

"Well, don't tell the others this. A few days ago, we got a letter. It was from Kuonji."

Anna tensed up at the name.

"He challenged our gang to a fight. It was supposed to be today."

"But since we're leaving…"

"Yeah. We're gone. That doesn't have anything to do with us anymore."

"I hope he doesn't find out where we went."

"He won't. Only the rest of our gang knows that we're leaving, and even so, they only know we're going to Tokyo. It's too big for Kuonji to find us."

"Right." Anna felt slightly better, but a sensation of worry continued to nag at her.

Anna's eyes slid over to watch Mikan, Sumire, and Nonoko as they slept.

_If only every day could be as peaceful as right now._


	3. Chapter 3

A little less than an hour later, the train stopped in Tokyo. Upon leaving the train, the crowd overwhelmed the girls. The clock just struck 8:00 AM, and everyone appeared to be trying to get to school, or work, or wherever else. Had they not been wearing their flashy, colorful outfits that clashed with the crowd's bland school uniforms and suits, the girls would have definitely lost sight of each other.

"Oh my god. Take me back to the hell hole. I can't deal with this," Sumire grumbled just as another stranger jostled her to the side for the fourth time.

"Get your asses over here," Hotaru barked. Somehow she managed to glide through the hoards of people and already stood by the exit of the station.

"I'll race you there," Mikan challenged the others. "Loser does whatever the winners want."

"You're on," Nonoko, Sumire, and Anna accepted in unison.

Together they charged toward Hotaru, the exit, and their chance at a new life.

Oh, and Mikan lost the race.

* * *

Sumire whistled in awe. "This place is definitely loaded. Like, look at this wall. Do they want to keep the rest of the world out?"

The five girls walked toward the iron gates of Alice Academy, peering in through the bars. Not much to see though. Behind the gate a long cobblestone driveway lined with pine trees stretched on for what seemed like forever. The driveway seemed so long that the girls couldn't even see the school buildings from where they stood. A thin veil of fog further hindered their view, so they settled with admiring the brick wall surrounding the campus to pass time.

"This is straight up out of a mystery novel," Nonoko noticed.

"My uncle should be here any minute now..." Mikan mentioned nervously. Even though she had been preparing herself to meet him for the past week, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

_What if I don't make a good first impression? What if he goes back on his word? We really should have made a Plan B…_

Nonoko looked away from the gate and back at Mikan. "Hey. Chill. I'm sure he's a nice guy. He admitted us while knowing that we're drop outs."

Mikan could only nod at this reassurance, not feeling reassured at all.

She closed her eyes and did some breathing exercises she'd learned in PE. They were meant to help you catch your breath after running long distance, but she figured they're good for any situation when she couldn't breathe normally. Like now. When she was on the verge of having a panic attack.

The sound of a car engine caught her attention halfway through her second set of exercises; a black van pulled up to the other side of the gate.

A few seconds ticked by before a man came out of the vehicle. Mikan immediately knew he was her uncle. Although she never met her father, she knew what he looked like through pictures. And man, her uncle looked almost identical to him, just a little older.

"You must be Mikan," he pointed out.

"Y-yes. Sorry, I'm kinda out of it right now. This just seems surreal, ya know? So, yeah, I'm Mikan, and well, this is Hotaru, Sumire, Anna, Nonoko, and Hotaru. Oh, shoot, I already said Hotaru…" Mikan continued rambling, and her friends almost died of secondhand embarrassment.

The entire time Kazumi Yukihira just quietly watched her. _She really looks like her mother._

"Mikan, can you just shut up? Like, please…" Sumire couldn't take it anymore.

"Well, then. Shall we get going?" He seized the opportunity given by Mikan's pause in speech to usher them onto the campus. He unlocked the gate and opened the van's doors, inviting them inside.

"Of course. Sorry, I'm just nervous. We all are—Ouch!" Mikan was interrupted by a jab in her side.

She turned to Hotaru, who looked at her with intent. Her eyes said, _Aren't you forgetting something?_

_Ah, yep, almost forgot. _

"Um, thank you so much for taking us in on such short notice. We really appreciate it. I don't know how to repay you for your kindness, Mr. Yukihira—" she started as the other girls climbed into the van.

Her uncle started the car engine and headed down the driveway. "Call me Kazumi. We're family after all. And it was no problem, really. The school had been looking for students to give scholarships to, and you happened to ask at the right time."

"How exactly did we get these scholarships, Mr. Yukihira? I'm sure Mikan has told you about our...circumstances...for leaving school," Hotaru questioned.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But you know, despite your bad reputations, you girls have remarkable grades. I'm shocked by it myself. You didn't cheat on tests or anything, did you?"

"Definitely not! I wouldn't let them!" Anna felt the need to defend her friends, even though she knew Mikan's uncle was only teasing.

"Of course, of course. You girls all have talents as well."

The girls looked at each other. Talents? Like what? They were only good at tests and fighting.

Kazumi saw their confused expressions. "Well, clearly you don't know what you're worth."

They blushed. They weren't used to being complimented.

"Anyway, I'm sure you all had your own reasons for behaving the way you did. But, let me be clear about something." He shifted to principal mode. "Here at Alice Academy, no form of disrespect or violence is tolerated."

He only needed to say it once for them to understand. Their days as gang members were over. From now on, they were normal high school girls.


	4. Chapter 4

For the rest of the ride, Kazumi gave a little tour of the campus. He showed them the dorms, which they would move into later tonight when the rest of their things arrived. He brought them to the main office where they received their ID cards and receipts for their uniforms, which would be delivered the next day. Finally he dropped them off in front of the school buildings.

"You're coming into the school year a few weeks late, so do your best to catch up. I'll stop by your dorms later today to help you get situated and to answer any questions you have about Alice Academy," he tried his best to ease the tension.

All five girls appeared obviously nervous about going to class. Anna kept breaking out into a hum that stopped a few seconds later and then resumed again. Hotaru cleared her throat more and more as they got closer to the classroom building. Sumire and Mikan remained deadly quiet, and Nonoko couldn't stop bouncing her leg, which produced a vibration that Kazumi could feel from the driver's seat. He laughed to himself. _They really don't seem like delinquents._

Kazumi spotted the person he had been waiting for: Narumi, the girls' homeroom teacher. He stepped out of the car to greet him.

"Your fashion sense is eccentric as usual," Kazumi commented, taking in the man's black heeled boots, purple skinny jeans, and half-unbuttoned ruffled shirt.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Principal Yukihira," Narumi smoothly responded. He turned to the girls, who scrambled out of the car. "So these are the new flowers to be added to my garden."

He winked at the girls, leaving them confused. _Are all the teachers here like this? Rich schools sure were different._

As if reading their minds, Kazumi answered their question: "Narumi's a special case, but he's a great teacher. I'll leave you in his care." Narumi, pleased by this compliment, hummed in agreement.

Narumi turned to the girls. "Shall we get going?"

They nodded gravely. As the group entered the building, they all kept the same thing in mind: _Don't screw this up_.

* * *

The march to Class 3-A was painful. Narumi helped by initiating a conversation, but only he talked; the girls contributed with "Hm", "Yeah", and "Okay".

They didn't mean to come off as rude or anything. In fact, if they wanted to, they could be the most talkative bunch, with the exception of Hotaru. Back home, they were outgoing and outspoken with their gang.

However, as they continued through the hallway, the girls couldn't help but feel out of place. Imagine five girls dressed with colorful hoodies and athletic leggings while surrounded by Romantic works of art framed and hanging on the walls, glittering chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, and curtains made of a fabric imported from some European country they'd never even heard of before. The picture doesn't look quite right, does it?

"Oh~ Are you boys coming late to class? Or are you trying to skip?" Narumi stopped his conversation with the unresponsive girls to address a group of guys approaching them.

"Welp, I guess you caught us, Naru," a sandy-haired boy laughed with his hands raised as if to surrender. He didn't appear the slightest bit ashamed of his actions. His friends didn't either. The sandy-haired boy stood beside four others: a raven-haired boy, a blonde, a brown-haired boy, and another sandy-haired one. They all looked at the girls with slight interest. The girls stared blankly back.

"Who're they, Naru?" the blonde asked.

"If you attend class today, you can find out," Narumi suggested.

The five boys glanced at each other, silently coming to a decision. Finally, the brown-haired boy shrugged. "What were we going to do if we skipped anyway?"

After shooting one last glance at the girls, the five turned around and headed into the classroom just around the corner.

"Tsk, tsk. Those boys are so mean. How could they miss my class," Narumi pouted and turned to the girls for moral support.

"Narumi-sensei, I'm sure they had some reason. You seem like a great teacher, not like the boring ones we used to have," Mikan attempted to comfort him. It must've worked because he was back to smiling again.

"I love you all already," he declared before skipping ahead to the classroom.

The girls trailed behind, not as eager to start school.

"Okay, before we go in, remember. Be normal. No insults, no fights, nothing," Sumire warned.

"Isn't it funny how Sumire is telling us this when she has the worst temper?" Mikan teased. Sumire glared at her as the others smirked.

"You wanna go, Sakura?"

"Ah, Sumire, didn't you just say no fights?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Back in the classroom, the boys sat down in their usual spots, all lined up on the bench in the back row next to the window.

Their reentry shocked their classmates, who wondered what made them come back to class. The girls of the class were happy nonetheless. Them attending class meant more eye candy.

Natsume Hyuuga, Ruka Nogi, Kokoroyomi (a.k.a. Koko), Yuu Tobita, and Kitsuneme (a.k.a Kitsu). The most sought after boys of Alice Academy and also the most unattainable. They maintained a distance with anyone outside of their little circle, and everyone knew better than to try to pass that boundary. The last one who tried was a girl named Luna Koizumi, who was (and still is) lovesick for Natsume; he showed no mercy when publicly humiliating her by doing something that remained taboo to speak about now.

So, to sum it up, these boys maintained themselves as exclusive.

"Hey, hey. Those girls were kinda weird," Koko, the sandy-haired boy, remarked.

"That's rude, Koko," Yuu, the brown-haired boy, reprimanded him.

"But like, for real. They just stared at us."

Ruka, the blonde, intervened. "It's nothing new if girls stare at us. Not to sound conceited or anything."

"No, their stare was different. Look around right now. The girls staring at us basically have hearts in their eyes." Koko added, "Not to sound conceited or anything, of course."

All the boys except for the raven-haired Natsume, who was preoccupied with reading a manga, looked around. Sure enough, the girls seemed starstruck by them.

"Were the other girls' stares different or something? I wasn't really looking," pondered Kitsu, the other sandy-haired boy.

"Yeah. I guess it's hard to describe. If you saw it you would get me. I wonder who they are…"

Narumi entered the classroom, and the students settled down.

"Class, I have some great news! We have transfer students!"

The class broke out into excited whispers until Narumi hushed them.

"Please give them a warm welcome. They came all the way from Kabukicho. Girls, come in."

_Kabukicho?_ Natsume remembered news he saw recently about the gang crimes that often took place there. The class's chatter died out; the others appeared to have recalled the same bit of news as Natsume.

"Narumi-sensei, don't tell me they're yankees," one boy joked. His friends laughed.

"We're not yankees. Sorry to disappoint," a voice reverberated through the room. In walked the five girls from the hallway.

_This is something new_, thought the entire class, including the boys in the back row.


	5. Chapter 5

Mikan, Hotaru, Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire definitely came across as different from the rest of the students of Alice Academy.

For one thing, their clothes. Sure, it was understandable that they wore casual clothing on their first day; uniforms tended to be delivered late. But to wear that type of casual clothing? At Alice Academy, the school for the rich, casual attire consisted of luxury designer brands, not hoodies and leggings from fast fashion brands.

_Ah, so they're scholarship students_, everyone in the class reached this conclusion at the same time.

Natsume, Ruka, Yuu, Kitsu, and Koko noticed something else about them though. Even though the girls smiled and greeted the class politely, they had their guard up. The boys could tell because they acted the same way.

"Take a seat anywhere that's open," Narumi told the girls.

There wasn't much of a choice when it came to seating. The class only contained one more empty row: the one in front of the boys, who liked it that way. Without anyone nearby, they could talk about whatever they wanted to.

The girls could have scattered to the various empty seats in different rows, but as mentioned before, they liked to be together. So, before anyone could object, they sat down in the empty row. Their new classmates stared at them.

"Is something wrong?" Anna asked.

_Are we being outted already?_

"Nothing! Feel free to sit there," Koko leaned over his desk to welcome them cheerfully. The other guys and the rest of the class looked at him strangely.

"Didn't realize we needed to ask for permission," Sumire muttered under her breath, eyeing the girls in the class who were now sending glares in their direction.

"Okay, class, I need to head over to a staff meeting now, so today will be a free period. Girls, if you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone in the class," Narumi waved goodbye.

"Will do," they called after him.

After Narumi left, the students got up from their seats to talk in their small cliques. Sumire and Hotaru heard their group being mentioned in nearby conversations, conversations that didn't sound all too friendly. Mikan, Anna, and Nonoko came off as oblivious, simply observing the classroom.

Suddenly a girl stopped in front of their row, arms crossed and lips pouted. The girls looked at her suspiciously. Anna, being the friendly one of the gang, greeted her.

"Hi! Do you need something?"

"First of all, I'm not planning on becoming friends with you five, so you can drop the act," the girl hissed.

Anna immediately became silent. The boys behind her felt a little bad seeing the new girl shot down so quickly, but dealing with Luna Koizumi seemed like too much trouble. So, they decided to just sit back and watch the event unfold.

_I'll intervene if things get out of hand_, Yuu planned. But Anna's friends had other plans.

"Wow, look at that, Sumire. A class bitch," Mikan whistled.

"Didn't know those existed anymore," Sumire chuckled.

Luna pivoted to face them, red in the face. "Excuse me?"

_Now things are getting interesting_, the boys thought. Even Natsume looked up from his manga.

"Okay, calm down. Mikan and Sumire, didn't we agree on no insults and no fights just a few minutes ago?" Anna attempted to mediate.

"Oops," Mikan and Sumire said passively at the same time. This earned a laugh from Koko and Kitsu.

Anna went back to Luna. "Sorry about that. They're just-"

"No fights? I knew it. You're from Kabukicho, so you must be gangsters. Tell me, how did you get into this school? Did you threaten someone?" Luna sneered, her voice shrill.

Now it was Hotaru's turn to talk. "We're not gangsters, no. We're exterminators, and we were called in to get rid of insects like you."

"Did you just call me an insect?"

"Would you like me to say it again?"

"Listen, my name is Luna Koizumi, and I—"

Nonoko interrupted her. "To be honest, we don't give a shit about who you are." Kitsu laughed again.

Luna didn't know how to respond. To think that she, the Queen Bee of the class, was shut down so easily!

"Maybe you should go back to your seat, Luna," Anna suggested kindly and firmly.

"Oh, shut up. I'm not done here—"

She was interrupted again, this time by Mikan. "What Anna means is, maybe you should go back to your seat before things get messy."

Mikan's threatening tone combined with a patronizing smirk from Sumire convinced Luna to retreat.

"We'll continue this later," she warned them. Then she turned to the boys behind the girls. "Boys, let me know if these five bother you! I'll deal with them, okay, Natsume?"

They didn't even look at her, but her smile didn't falter as she turned and walked back to her seat.

Mikan swiveled around in her seat to face the boys. "Well, so much for being low-key. Was that entertaining enough?" she joked. Obviously Koko and Kitsu's laughs hadn't gone by unnoticed.

"Hell yeah it was," Koko answered.

"It's refreshing to see someone other than Natsume put Luna in her place," Ruka commented.

"For sure," said Yuu and Kitsu simultaneously.

"Which one of you is Natsume?" Mikan asked.

The boys pointed at the boy sitting diagonally behind Mikan. He looked at her. "You have my condolences," she offered solemnly.

"Hm." He didn't really know how to respond to that.

The rest of the girls swiveled around. "Can we get some names?" Sumire demanded.

"Of course, milady," Koko joked. Sumire looked at him as if he had just grown a third eye.

"Don't call me that."

After a few seconds of getting to know who's who, Ruka asked, "So, why'd you guys transfer here?"

Immediately Mikan started to answer. "Funny story. Sumire here was ex—" She was interrupted when Nonoko clamped a hand over her mouth.

"We got a scholarship," Hotaru finished.

"Ah, yeah. We got a scholarship," Mikan murmured after Nonoko released her grip.

"That's pretty amazing. This school is competitive after all," Yuu praised.

Natsume stared at Mikan, who gazed at a spot on the desk while the others talked around her.

_They're definitely hiding something_.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that evening, after Kazumi stopped by for a brief check-up, Mikan found herself in the new dorm room surrounded by boxes.

At Alice Academy, the dorms consisted of separate suites in which five or six students lived. Each suite came equipped with a bathroom, a living, a kitchen, and basic furniture, which made it a luxury for the girls whose old apartment seemed dingy in comparison.

"Imagine challenging us to a race and then losing," Sumire mocked Mikan from the couch where she flipped through a magazine.

"Imagine getting murdered in your sleep tonight," Mikan shot back darkly.

"Now, now. There are a lot of boxes. Maybe we should all help unpack," Anna came in.

"Nope. I refuse. She lost the race, so she has to do whatever we tell her to. So, if we tell her to unpack the boxes, then she unpacks them," Nonoko stated seriously while on the way back to her room.

Mikan turned to Anna. "Anna~ They're being mean to me," she whined.

"Don't mind them, Mikan. I'll help you."

Mikan appreciated Anna's altruism but didn't feel satisfied. She wanted revenge.

"Anna, why don't we put on some music?"

"Sure. Play whatever you want."

Mikan took out her phone and synced it with their portable speaker. She knew exactly what to play to get on the nerves of the other girls: screamer music.

"Let's start with 'Sarcasm' by Get Scared…" she hummed.

* * *

Being new to the dorms, the girls didn't know how thin the walls were. Which is why, when Mikan started blasting her screamer music, she had no idea that her neighbors could hear it all, loud and clear.

It was only 6:24 PM. Natsume woke up from his nap an hour earlier than normal because of the noise. He groaned before diving under his pillow in an attempt to block the music, but this attempt proved futile.

After a few minutes, he got up and made his way into the living room where his friends sat. Ruka looked up at him. "The music woke you up too?"

"What else?" he grumbled.

"Did someone move in next door?" Kitsu wondered out loud. Their floor at the top of the dorm building contained only two other rooms, but the last time he checked, only the boys occupied on this floor.

The five boys grew silent, realizing the same thing at the same time.

"DON'T TELL ME IT'S THE TRANSFER STUDENTS," Koko exclaimed.

"Who else could it be? I didn't hear about any other transfer students today," Yuu reasoned logically.

"Shall we go say hi?" Koko suggested.

His friends looked at him pointedly.

"What~"

"Koko, you're oddly open with them," Kitsu said.

"Yeah. Like, you were fine with them sitting in front of us today. When other people wanted to sit there at the beginning of the year, you said it was off limits," Yuu added.

"Okay, but you guys understand, right?" Koko defended himself.

They looked at him blankly.

"I mean, dude, they're hot. And cool."

Natsume scoffed. "What are you, an elementary school student?"

"Natsume~ Look at me straight in the eyes and tell me you're not the least bit interested in them."

Natsume leaned down a bit to get to Koko's eye level. "I. Am. Not. The. Least. Bit. Interested. In. Them."

"You're boring."

"Hm."

"Well, I'm going to go over to welcome our new neighbors. Feel free to come if you want." Koko headed toward the door slowly, waiting to see if any of his friends would join him at the last second. He really didn't want to go to the girls' room by himself.

"It is polite to greet new neighbors. I'll come along," Yuu decided. "Ruka, Kitsu, you guys coming?"

They nodded and went to join Koko and Yuu. Just before opening the door, Koko turned back to Natsume, who was now seated on the couch and flipping through TV channels.

"C'mon, Natsume. The four of us are going, so why don't you come along, too?"

Natsume ignored him.

"If you come, I'll do your laundry tomorrow." Resorting to bribes. How desperate. But it worked.

Natsume silently got up.

* * *

The moment they left their dorm, the music from the girls' dorm shut off.

"I guess that'll make it easier for them to hear us knock," Koko said brightly.

However, before he could even knock, the girls' door flew open.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

Mikan ran out and fled down the hallway toward the elevators. She didn't even notice the five boys standing nearby, watching with confused stares as she bolted.

"Uh, is everything alright in there…"

Ruka stepped forward to peer into the room only to be shoved aside by Hotaru, who chased after Mikan.

She spared a glance in their direction, nodded to show she acknowledged them, and took off with a cannon-like object strapped on her arm.

The boys watched as she cornered Mikan in the elevator just before the doors closed. The repeated sounds of _Baka Baka Baka_ drowned out Mikan's screams.

"What did we just see?" Kitsu wondered.

"MIKAN SAKURA, THAT COWARD." Sounded like Sumire.

"Yo. We're here to say hi to our new neighbors, and turns out it's you girls, huh," Koko strolled into their dorm comfortably as if he hadn't just witnessed a potential murder.

His friends followed him and found themselves in a room with clothing scattered across the floor, empty boxes trampled, and three girls sitting on the couch. Ruka flushed at the sight of a bra hanging from a door handle.

"Oh, hi! I didn't know we had neighbors! Sorry, if we had known we would've stopped by to greet you earlier...We've been kinda busy unpacking…" Anna apologized.

"No worries. We should've stopped by earlier too, but we were all napping. Didn't even know you moved in actually," Yuu responded.

"Your music was loud," Natsume complained.

"When Mikan comes back, you can give her hell about that," Sumire uttered.

"You guys are into screamer music?" Kitsu asked.

"No. Not at all. But the ever-so-mature Mikan Sakura wanted to get back at us for winning a race in the train station, and…" Nonoko bitterly told the boys of what had happened earlier that morning.

"I see, I see," Koko reacted.

Just then, Hotaru and Mikan returned, Hotaru looking satisfied and Mikan looking terrified.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry," she kept whispering.

"It's okay, Mikan! Hotaru, Mikan, look who came to say hi! Our neighbors!"

Hotaru nodded at them again before going back to her room to clean her Baka Gun. Mikan was broken from her trance. She looked up.

"Ah...hi," she said lamely.

"Your music was loud," Natsume repeated to her.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah. The walls here are thin." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, well, sorry. In case you didn't know, we just moved in today. Didn't have time to learn how thin the walls are," she defended herself sarcastically.

She and Natsume engaged in a stare-off.

_How immature_, Natsume thought.

_How rude_, Mikan thought.

"Hey, Mikan, what're you going to do about this mess?" Nonoko cut in.

"Oh, yeah~ Uh…"

"We can figure that out later. Let's get dinner started instead," Anna proposed.

"Sounds like a plan," Mikan and Sumire said at the same time. They were pretty hungry.

Anna turned to the boys. "Would you guys like to stay for dinner?"

"Oh, we couldn't. We were planning on grabbing something from the dining hall," said Yuu.

"No, please stay! We can get to know each other better over dinner, as classmates and as neighbors."

"Well, if you insist, Anna!" Koko accepted cheerfully. He plopped down onto the couch next to Sumire, who scrolled through the TV guide.

"Channel 30 shows Criminal Minds, if you're into that." Sumire took his suggestion.

The other boys couldn't have been more embarrassed by Koko's behavior. They looked at each other, wondering what they should do. They didn't want to impose on the girls.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's no trouble. Anna's used to cooking for, like, twenty people anyway," Mikan reassured them.

"Uh, twenty?"

"At least."

"Okay...but let us help at least," Yuu suggested. "I can help with the cooking. I'm the only one of this useless group of guys who knows how."

The other boys pretended not to hear him.

"Oh, I know, I know!" Mikan was suddenly excited. "How about the rest of you help us unpack while Yuu cooks with Anna!"

Natsume looked at Mikan. She must've really been stupid if she thought they were going to help her and her friends unpack. He had much better things to do. Like finish his three-hour nap.

Ruka started, "I don't know, Mikan. Isn't there some stuff you want to keep private?" His eyes caught the bra hanging on the door handle again. It was a lavender color. He blushed. Hard.

Sumire followed his gaze. _Ah, this boy is pure_.

"HEY, HOTARU. YOU LEFT YOUR BRA OUT HERE!"

Hotaru came out of her room, looked around, and spotted it. Everyone watched as she picked it off the handle.

"What?" she questioned them nonchalantly.

"See? We don't care," Sumire cheekily told Ruka.

_These girls are definitely something else_, he thought to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

The girls packed some interesting things. Natsume found a box full of shounen and shoujo manga, including some of his favorites like Demon Slayer. When he found out that they belong to Mikan, she appeared more favorable in his eyes. Kitsu and Koko ruffled through cookbooks with strange recipes, like sea urchin guacamole tacos and beet pickled devilish eggs. Ruka opened a heavy box to find a bunch of gadgets, some of which appeared very similar to the Baka gun Hotaru had used on Mikan earlier.

Even though they were technically doing a chore, the boys actually enjoyed their time. These girls weren't trying to flirt with them; to be honest, hanging out with them felt normal, as if they'd been doing it for years.

Within an hour and a half, the boys emptied the boxes and placed their contents in the proper areas around the dorm. Everyone except Anna and Yuu, who were finishing cooking, settled on the couch.

"So, what was life like back in Kabukicho?" Ruka asked to start a conversation.

The girls looked around at each other nervously.

"Uh…" Mikan tried to think of something to say.

The boys waited.

"It was normal," Hotaru answered.

"Ah." An awkward silence fell.

"Can someone set the table, please?" Anna called from the kitchen.

"On it," Nonoko and Kitsu volunteered at the same time.

A few minutes later, all ten of them sat around the table, ready for the food to be served.

Anna carried out a pot of curry while Yuu carried brought the rice and side dishes.

"Smells amazing as usual," Mikan complimented Anna's cooking.

"Thank you to my co-chef today, too," Anna said to Yuu. He blushed.

The rest of the table eyed the two of them. They had a pretty good vibe going on for people who just met for the first time earlier that day.

"Okay, time for us to ask the questions," Mikan started. "What's your guys' story?"

"That's not very fair, Mikan. We barely learned anything about you guys," Koko whined.

"The world isn't very fair, but you deal with it anyway."

"Hmmph," Koko pouted childishly. "Fine. Well, we're just normal, hormonal teenage boys."

Yuu and Ruka choked on their food.

"Was the hormonal part really necessary?" Kitsu groaned.

"At least I'm being honest and open, unlike the girls," he rolled his eyes.

Sumire laughed, "I dig that."

"Thank you, milady. But, yeah, we're nothing special," Koko continued.

"Really? Because based on the glares we've been getting from Luna and the other girls in class, you guys seem pretty special," Nonoko pointed out.

Koko put on a serious face. "I see. I wasn't going to tell you guys this, but I guess I have to now. I'm not sure if you noticed, but we're…" He trailed off.

"You're what…" Mikan followed.

"We're pretty handsome."

Koko expected the girls to agree or laugh out of politeness, but he instead saw that they began to carefully check him and his friends out. The boys put down their food and stared right back. How could they eat in this atmosphere? After a while, the girls finished their assessment.

"They're above average," Sumire declared.

"Indeed," the other girls nodded in agreement.

"What. Have you seen guys better looking than us?" Koko challenged. "Celebrities don't count."

"Yeah. Lots. That was probably the only good thing about Kabukicho," Mikan answered, already remembering the many good looking gang members she had fought. She'd always had a thing for edgy looking guys.

Natsume watched her as she reminisced her past. Even though he would never admit it, he felt slightly disappointed at how she had brushed the guys aside like that. He wasn't used to being below someone else when it comes to appearances.

"What?" Mikan had caught him staring.

He acted quickly. "I bet none of the Kabukicho guys even looked at you."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused."

"Oi, Natsume. What's so unlikeable about me?"

It was his turn to check her out. "You're flat. In various ways."

"EXCUSE ME?"

"You're excused."

"Mikan, he's kinda right though. Besides, we were too busy fi—" Sumire started.

"WE WERE TOO BUSY STUDYING," Anna broke in.

Sumire realized her mistake. "Y-yeah. We were too busy studying, so none of us ever got into relationships."

The boys felt strangely content after hearing this, Natsume especially.

"I'm done," Hotaru took her dishes and excused herself from the table.

"Same here," Ruka got up, too. "If anyone has dishes they want me to wash, hand them over."

The others quickly finished what they had left on their plate to avoid having to do the dishes themselves.

Ruka sighed as he walked into the kitchen with a stack. "I should've known."

"I'll help..." Hotaru offered.

Ruka looked down at the stoic girl and shot his most princely smile. "Thanks, Hotaru."

"...if I'm getting paid," she finished.

"Oh."

* * *

Later that night, the boys finally returned to their dorm.

"See? The girls are fun." Koko really wanted his friends to thank him for his brilliant plan.

"Yeah, they are," Ruka said absentmindedly as he slipped off his shoes.

Koko cackled triumphantly. He did a spin to face Natsume.

"So, Natsume. Can you look at me again and tell me you're not the least bit interested in them? You were pretty talkative tonight!"

Natsume walked right past Koko and headed for his room.

_I don't think I can_, he thought. Natsume Hyuuga could be described as many things, but not as a liar. And right now he had someone on his mind: a certain brunette who didn't consider him the best-looking guy she'd ever seen.


	8. Chapter 8

After dinner, Mikan jumped into bed and buried herself in blankets.

_What a day._

Even now she couldn't believe how everything fell perfectly into place for her and her friends. In just a week, they went from the dangerous streets of Kabukicho to the extravagant halls of Alice Academy, all thanks to Kazumi.

He didn't seem like a bad guy, but Mikan just couldn't find it in herself to open up to him. She guessed that he felt the same way about her.

Earlier when he stopped by to get the girls settled into their dorms, he appeared normal and managed to maintain a casual tone when answering their questions about the school, but after Mikan's friends left him and her alone in the living room for some "uncle-niece bonding time", he was clearly uncomfortable. Mikan saw this in his inability to look her in the eye and his tendency to check his watch for the time. Within a few minutes he excused himself, saying he had dinner plans.

"_If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to contact me."_

She cringed at Kazumi's words and his expression when saying them; his eyes conveyed pain, regret, and something else Mikan couldn't make out. "He probably feels guilty that his brother's daughter turned out like this."

* * *

"Not gonna lie, these uniforms are kinda cute." The school uniforms arrived the next morning.

"They're cute, but they could be cuter," Sumire eyed the white button-up dress shirts, the fitted black blazers, and the crimson plaid skirts.

She grabbed her own uniform from the box and brought it back to her room.

"Sumire, eat breakfast before you get dressed," Anna called out.

Sumire didn't respond.

"Her cereal is going to be soggy by the time she comes back."

Anna waited until she finished her own breakfast before walking to Sumire's room, opening the door without knocking.

"Sumi- OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Sumire stepped out into the hallway and did a twirl, wearing an outfit that looked like Alice Academy's school uniform but didn't at the same time. The blazer now sparkled as she moved, which suggested that she sprayed glitter on it; she also pleated and shortened the skirt and embroidered her initials "S.S." at the bottom with golden thread. She replaced the ribbon that went with the button-up shirt with another, more eye-catching fabric.

"Damn, you look good," Mikan nodded approvingly.

"I always look good."

"Sumire, how could you do this to your uniform! WE JUST GOT IT TODAY, AND YOU GO AND CHANGE IT AS YOU PLEASE! Isn't it against the rules?"

Hotaru cleared her throat. "Actually, Alice Academy's handbook only says that students have to wear the school's uniforms to class. And that," she gestured toward Sumire's outfit, "that is technically the school's uniform, just rearranged a little."

Anna looked at Sumire again. "Well...if Hotaru says so…"

"Hehehe. Just tell me if you guys want your uniforms customized too."

"Yes, please," Mikan, Hotaru, and Nonoko said together. They would rather die than wear those dull outfits every day of the week.

"I'll wait to see how the teachers react before I let you do anything," Anna said instead.

"Ah, Anna, always the careful one," Nonoko teased.

"...Okay, fine. Screw it."

Sumire smiled triumphantly and grabbed the remaining uniforms. "Give me an hour minutes."

"Class starts in an hour," Hotaru warned.

"Hey, if we're late, at least we'll be fashionably late."

* * *

Forty minutes later, Sumire came out to reveal the finished products.

"Friends, I think I might actually be a genius."

Starting with the blazers, Sumire added something different for each girl. She embroidered dark red roses onto Mikan's blazer and bedazzled stars onto Nonoko's. She installed a pocket above the left chest area of Hotaru's, and on this pocket Sumire stitched the logo Hotaru branded on her gadgets; Anna's had holes punched in the cuff area through which red and white ribbons ran through. For their skirts, Sumire pleated them and stitched each of their initials on the corners, and she replaced the ribbons for their button-ups with the same fabric that she wore on her own uniform.

"Yeah. For today I'll admit that you're a genius," Mikan agreed, now happily dressed in her new and improved uniform.

* * *

The girls showed up just seconds before the bell rang.

As they rushed through the doors, they caught everyone's attention.

"Um, what do you think you're doing?" Of course, Luna Koizumi was the first to confront them.

"Heading to our seats," Anna answered sweetl.

"I mean, what do you think you're wearing? You can't do that to your uniform."

"Read the handbook again," Hotaru suggested to Luna before pushing her way past.

Koko whistled as the girls arrived at the back of the classroom.

"Standing out so much on the second day!"

"I'm pretty sure we stood out just as much yesterday," Sumire muttered.

Narumi entered the class and was immediately cornered by Luna.

"Narumi-sensei, look at what the transfer students are wearing. Look at what they've done to their uniform!"

Narumi looked at the girls, who stood up to show off. "They're not breaking any rules, Luna. Don't they look cute?"

Luna scowled before returning to her seat. While the girls faced the front, the guys checked them out from behind.

Natsume acknowledged that their new uniforms looked sick, and Mikan's new skirt did a great job at making her butt look less flat.

"Girls, you can be seated now. Class, I have another meeting today, so it's another free period. Adieu!" Narumi came and went like the wind.

Mikan and the rest were about to turn around to talk to the boys when a small group of girls walked up to them.

"Yeah?" she nodded at them, preparing herself for another confrontation.

"Um, hi!" One of them started. "I couldn't introduce myself yesterday, but my name's Wakako."

"Nice to meet you, Wakako."

"Just wanted to say that your uniforms look amazing."

"Ah, that's all Sumire."

Sumire raised her hand flamboyantly. "Yes, yes. Praise me more!"

Koko leaned over from behind Sumire. "Woah, you did all this? What a talent, milady!"

"Stop calling me that."

"As you wish, milady."

Wakako and her friends laughed, and for the first time, the girls realized that maybe they could fit in at Alice Academy.


	9. Chapter 9

Alice Academy turned out to be the best change the girls could've asked for. They finally got the high school experience that Mikan read about in her shoujo mangas.

A few weeks after they transferred, they each joined extracurriculars relating to the "talents" that Kazumi mentioned on their first day at Alice Academy. Kazumi made it his own personal goal to "guide the girls into reaching their full potential", so he checked up on them every now and then; his relationship with Mikan hadn't improved as much as they had hoped it would, but at least through these short meetings they made an effort to get to know each other better.

Mikan, who always scored perfectly on essays and in courses relating to literature, joined the school's journalism club in which she quickly became _Alicean Agenda_'s most popular writer, as determined by polls. The robotics club recruited Hotaru after its president caught her tweaking her Baka gun in the dining hall; she only joined because she heard of how she could profit from investors that occasionally visited. The fashion design club scouted Sumire after seeing how she customized her and her friends' uniforms, which led to a flood of requests from female students to get their own clothing embroidered and embellished. Anna took part in a special culinary arts program that allowed her to network with famous chefs the academy had connections with; thanks to this, the girls ate good every night. The last person to get involved in school activities was Nonoko, who eventually became a member of the school's Science Olympiad team; her perception of organic chemistry being as simple as elementary school addition amazed her teammates.

Of course, they juggled these extracurriculars with studying. As required by their scholarships, they maintained a minimum 4.0 GPA, which really wasn't that hard for them; they took weighted classes and rarely got anything lower than an A. It also helped that the boys next door could tutor them if they had trouble with any subject; the boys turned out to be pretty smart themselves, ranking among the top 30 of their grade.

The girls actually spent a lot of time with the boys. The two groups walked to and from school together, attended class together, and ate lunch and sometimes dinner together. They reached the point in their relationship where they showed up to the other's dorm unexpectedly without producing any feelings of awkwardness. Before they realized it, the two groups had merged into one, which most of the other girls of Alice Academy hated.

But the boys still knew nothing about the girls from before they came to Alice Academy. The tried to interrogate the girls some more but Hotaru shot them down with "Some things are better left unknown." Since then, they never mentioned Kabukicho again. Meanwhile, the girls found themselves so caught up in their new lives that they rarely spoke of Kabukicho. And they were fine with that. They didn't come to Alice Academy simply to distract themselves from whatever went on back home. They came to Alice Academy to throw their past lives away.

They thought they'd succeeded too.

* * *

Just off campus stood a small, cozy cafe called Spades. Natsume introduced it to Mikan after she complained about not being able to concentrate on writing while in the dorm, where there was always something distracting her.

So, she started going to Spades whenever she needed to work on something for the _Alicean Agenda_. Natsume occasionally stopped by to grab some coffee, and if he spotted Mikan there at the same time, they hung out. Today was one of those days.

Mikan watched as he waited near the counter for his order. _He's really quite handsome_, she thought to herself. She noticed nearby girls gazing at him too. With his messy raven locks, crimson-colored eyes, and slightly tanned skin, he looked like he walked straight out of a Hollister ad. But she would never tell him that; he would never let her live it down. She went back to typing on her laptop.

When she did so, Natsume turned to watch her; he knew she'd been checking him out, and he didn't mind. Actually, he liked it, but he would never call her out on it. Over the three months that she and her friends had been at Alice Academy, he became rather attached to Mikan. Sure, she was pretty with warm hazel eyes, bow-shaped lips, and honey-brown hair that fell to her slim waist, but he was drawn to her because of something else.

He recalled a conversation they'd had a few weeks earlier when he was helping her with calculus:

"_Where were you after school today?" he asked her._

"_I was helping this freshman explore some clubs. She's shy, so she hasn't checked them out yet."_

"_Oh. Why? What's in it for you?" Natsume was still surprised at how Mikan could become friends with strangers so easily. She'd even somewhat won over Luna Koizumi, who stopped picking fights after learning that she and Mikan liked the same authors; now they were book buddies._

"_Nothing. Life isn't always give and take, you know." _

"..._"_

"_I guess I just wanted to help her out. I'll lend a hand where I see one is needed since someone did the same for me." _

"_Hm." Natsume waited for her to elaborate on this someone, but she returned to working on the worksheet. _

To him, she remained quite a mystery, but he admired how selfless she was.

The barista called out his order, and Natsume picked it up along with a few napkins and headed over to where Mikan sat at her usual table in the corner of the cafe. He quietly sat down so as not to interrupt her writing streak.

A few minutes later she finally stopped typing and looked up at him. "Hey, Natsume. What's up?"

"Hm. Nothing much." He sipped his coffee. "What're you working on?"

"An article about the robotics club. They're doing some neat stuff right now, and Hotaru let me interview her."

"Ah."

Mikan went back to writing, and Natsume looked out the window to watch cars and people pass by. Even though it was silent at their table, except for the rapid tapping on Mikan's keyboard, it was comfortable. _This feels nice_, he thought.

A loud group came into the cafe, and after a while, Natsume looked to Mikan to see if she'd been distracted by them. Sure enough, she had stopped typing.

* * *

Mikan didn't pay much attention to the loud group that had entered Spades until she heard a certain voice.

"Black Americano."

She froze.

"Yeah. Get me a medium size."

There was no way.

Mikan slowly raised her line of vision to scan through the group at the register. What she saw drained the blood from her face.

There he was. Kuonji.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey. You good?" Natsume noticed that Mikan paled.

She slowly turned to him, as if suddenly realizing he was there. "Yeah. Uh. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired, is all."

He noticed that her usual cup of tea was empty. Maybe she felt dehydrated? He offered her his coffee.

"Thanks." She took a sip.

_Ah, an indirect kiss._ Natsume felt embarrassed as soon as he thought that. What was he? A kid?

Mikan looked slightly better now; the color returned to her cheeks at least. But he could tell there was something off.

"You sure you're good?" he asked again.

"What's with you, Natsume? So caring today, geez. I think I'll just head back to the dorms now. Coming?"

"Yeah."

Mikan hurriedly put away her laptop and papers as Natsume threw away her cup for her.

"What's the rush?"

"I'm just...really hungry."

"It's only 5."

"All that writing must've drained me, haha."

"Hm. Pig."

Usually calling her a pig earned him a glare or an insult back but today ... nothing. Weird.

Together they headed for the door of Spades. Natsume saw that Mikan stuck closer to him than usual, probably to squeeze past the loud group that took up so much space while waiting for their orders. He didn't hate the feeling of them being shoulder to shoulder though.

He had just grabbed the door handle when he felt Mikan stop. Natsume looked down at her and saw panic flash through her eyes.

"Sakura?" a voice called from behind.

One of the people from the loud group held Mikan back. With black hair slicked back, sharp eyes, and a nasty smirk, he looked slimy as hell. She didn't turn around to greet him.

"It's Sakura, right?" the guy chuckled. "What're the odds that we would run into each other here. You know me, don't you?"

No response. Natsume stepped away from the door, closer to Mikan.

"Hey. When someone's talking to you, you should at least face them." The guy reached for her shoulder.

Natsume intervened. He grabbed Mikan's hand and pulled her toward him, burying her face in his chest.

"You have the wrong person. This is my girlfriend."

The guy glared at him. "Her name's Sakura, right?"

"No, her name's...Uraraka." Could he have been any smoother? Using a name from an anime he'd watched…

"Oh. Uraraka, hm? Well, sorry about that, U-ra-ra-ka." The guy drawled out her name syllable by syllable.

Natsume just nodded and dragged Mikan out of Spades. They walked the rest of the way back to the dorms in silence.

* * *

"Who was that guy at Spades?"

Natsume cornered Mikan as she left the bathroom. Anna invited the boys over for dinner again, and while Anna and Yuu prepared the food, Natsume decided to get some questions answered.

"Uh…"

"Someone from Kabukicho?"

She visibly blanched but confirmed nothing.

"Don't tell me he's one of the hot guys you mentioned. He wasn't as great as you made them out to be." He tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't seem to work.

"He's someone we don't want to talk about," she finally muttered.

"_We." So the other girls know him too._

"Hm." He let it drop for now.

"Natsume, Mikan! Dinner's ready!" Anna called from the kitchen. Natsume glanced at Mikan again before proceeding to the dining table with her in tow.

"Oh my, what were you two hormonal teenagers doing back there together?" Koko's teased, expecting a reaction that would serve as entertainment for the night.

"Nothing," they grumbled at the same time. Okay, not what Koko wanted to get out of them.

"Is something wrong, Mikan? You don't look too good," Ruka asked.

The others, now aware of her unusual complexion, looked at her with worry.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just starving." She forced a smile on her face and sat down between Nonoko and Hotaru.

"Well, that's good because Anna and I cooked a lot today," Yuu asserted enthusiastically while smiling at the mentioned girl. Anna returned the smile serenely as she took her seat next to Yuu.

As everyone dug into their meal, Mikan gazed silently at the happy group. Ruka made small talk with Hotaru about Robotics Club. Anna and Yuu looked like an old, married couple as they complimented each other's cooking. Koko choked on a piece of pasta, and Sumire roughly slapped him on the back to help him cough it out; Kitsu and Nonoko observed the two with amused gazes while stifling their laughter.

Everything just seemed so perfect. Here, the girls weren't labeled as "problem children" or "gang members"; they were just normal girls enjoying a normal meal with normal boys. The girls adjusted so well at Alice Academy, and this dinner was proof of it. But deep down, Mikan always knew what she had at Alice Academy was too good to be true.


	11. Chapter 11

"Sit down, Mikan." The boys already returned to their dorm after finishing dinner, and Hotaru decided now was the time to approach Mikan. Mikan complied without hesitation. She'd been expecting this. Sumire, Anna, and Nonoko sensed that something serious was going on and seated themselves in the living room near Hotaru and Mikan.

"So, what happened between you and Hyuuga?"

_Uh, what._

"With Natsume? Um, nothing?"

"You and Hyuuga were acting strange before dinner."

"Ooh, could this be a lover's quarrel?" Along with Koko, Sumire loved to ship others.

Mikan glared at Sumire. "Natsume and I aren't like that. The only lovers in our group are Anna and Yuu."

"Sure~" Anna and Nonoko cooed in unison. Anna didn't even deny that she had something going on with Yuu.

"If it wasn't Hyuuga that was bothering you, then what was?" Hotaru got them back on track.

Mikan didn't say anything for a while. If she told them about Kuonji, she would only bring back memories of the life they ran away from. If she didn't tell them, they could be in danger without even knowing it. She had a bad feeling that Kuonji recognized her, and it didn't require a genius to figure out that, if she was in one place, her friends were there too.

Mikan sighed when she realized what she had to do. "I saw Kuonji today."

"What?" This came from Nonoko and Sumire. Hotaru and Anna just looked at her with an unreadable expression.

Mikan nodded. "He was at Spades. He had a lot of people with him. I can't tell if they were part of his gang or…"

"Did he see you?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan nodded again.

"...Well, does it really matter if he saw Mikan or not?" Sumire asked after a while. "We never had beef with his gang or anything. Maybe he's just here in Tokyo for a visit."

"I don't know. It just seemed like he was taunting me. He tried to stop me from leaving, and if it weren't for Natsume, I think things would have gotten bad-"

"Before we moved here, Kuonji challenged our gang to a fight."

Mikan, Sumire, and Nonoko looked at Hotaru incredulously. Kuonji challenged them to a fight and they didn't show?

Nonoko noticed that Anna didn't seem surprised by the news. "Anna, did you know?"

"...Yes. Hotaru told me on the train ride here."

Hotaru and Anna were met with looks of disbelief, which soon boiled into anger.

"Wait. Since when did we start keeping secrets from each other?" Sumire yelled. "Hotaru, since when were you the boss of our gang? You can't just make decisions by yourself. If I had known that Kuonji wanted a fight then I would've given him a fight. Then we would've been able to come here without anything holding us back. But, Hotaru, you stood him up, and now he's here tracking us down."

Sumire sensed that she was only rambling at this point, but when Hotaru made no move to defend herself, she continued.

"You should've known that Kuonji would do this. It's Kuonji we're talking about. Remember what he did to Abe's gang? Remember?"

Everyone flinched at what she referred to. Abe was an acquaintance of theirs, and his gang had refused a challenge from Kuonji's. Soon after, Abe's gang was found beaten up beneath a bridge; two of his best fighters were put into comas. But that wasn't the worst part. What was worse was that Kuonji's gang continued to terrorize Abe's by targeting their loved ones, even the elderly and children. Eventually Abe's gang was disbanded, and a majority of its members moved far away.

Basically, Kuonji was the big boss of Kabukicho. Defying him was suicide.

Anna began shakily, "I'm sure Hotaru had her reasons for not telling us about this before we moved…" She turned to Hotaru, hoping that Hotaru would explain.

Hotaru shrugged. "I just didn't want to fight anymore. I'm tired of it, and I know all of you are too. I figured that there was no way that Kuonji could find us in Tokyo anyway, so I took the chance."

"But...if we fought him…" Sumire started.

"His gang is more than twice the size of ours, and they have much more experience. If we fought him we would've lost. Would you really have wanted to show up to Alice Academy looking half dead? Would you really have wanted our new classmates to know what we are? What we were?"

Sumire knew Hotaru was right.

"I regret coming here," Mikan muttered. Her friends looked at her warily.

"Don't say that. You don't mean it," Anna attempted to comfort her.

"No. I do mean it. Now that Kuonji knows that we're here, he's not going to leave until he gets to us. If he's in the area, everyone around us is in danger. We can't just fight him either. If we do, Kazumi's going to be pissed, and we're going to be expelled. " Mikan thought back to the friends she'd made through the _Alicean Agenda_. She thought back to Natsume and the guys. To think she would lose them all so soon.

"Well, as long as he can't get to us, then we're fine right?" Nonoko said.

"Okay, and how exactly do we make it so that he can't find us and try to kill us? Shall I go ask Harry Potter for some invisibility cloaks?" Sumire asked sarcastically.

Nonoko ignored her attitude. "You guys, you're forgetting that we're in Alice Academy, one of the best schools in the nation. The security is top notch. Like, there's a huge wall surrounding the campus."

_Oh. True._

Nonoko continued. "As long as we don't go off campus, Kuonji can't find us. Mikan, you weren't wearing your uniform at Spades, right?"

Mikan shook her head.

"Good. Then Kuonji doesn't even know that we go to this school. He just knows that we're in Tokyo, and Tokyo's huge."

The rest were reassured by Nonoko's confidence. Even Hotaru was impressed at how level-headed Nonoko was in this situation. Unlike Nonoko, Hotaru had been thinking of which weapons to use when Kuonji's gang finally located them; she thought a fight was inevitable. Now that they had a solid plan (to hide out until Kuonji left), there was only one thing left to say.

"Let's not screw this up."


	12. Chapter 12

Mikan usually spent the mornings of her weekends sleeping in. However, after her encounter with Kuonji, she had something else to do: find a replacement for Spades.

Her alarm rang at 9:00 AM, and within half an hour, she stood ready to head out in her search. Since the others were still sleeping, she quietly gathered some snacks, her laptop, and her notebooks into her satchel and tiptoed out of the dorm.

She had just closed the door when she felt a breath near her ear.

"You're up early."

"Holy sh—" Mikan quickly turned around, slamming herself against the door. "Natsume, what the hell?"

Natsume, dressed in basketball shorts, a dri-fit shirt, and running shoes, was coming back from a jog. Mikan eyed a bead of sweat as it trailed down his neck.

"Going somewhere?" Natsume gestured toward her bag. "You know it's Saturday, right? No class."

"Uh, yeah, I know," Mikan said lamely, too distracted by how his tanned skin glistened with sweat.

"Eyes up here, pervert."

"I'm not a pervert."

"Right. So, where are you going? Spades?"

Mikan shook her head. "Nah, somewhere else."

"Hm. Where?"

"Actually, I'm not sure yet. I'm looking for a place to work on my article."

"Why don't you just go to Spades?"

"...I have my reasons," Mikan said quietly.

Just then Natsume remembered the last time he had seen Mikan at Spades, when she ran into that sleazy guy.

_Ah, so she's trying to avoid him._

"Shall I recommend some places?" he offered.

"Really?" Mikan looked up at him skeptically.

"Yeah. I have a few hours to kill." Natsume made it sound like he had plans, but he knew that, if it weren't for this, he would've just crawled into bed and watched anime.

"Okay, then that'd be great."

"It's a date then." Natsume smoothly walked past Mikan and toward his dorm before she could see the smile that had formed on his face.

The two of them spent plenty of time together before, but those moments were never planned. From Mikan's perspective, whenever Natsume caught her at Spades, it was a product of pure coincidence. Little did she know that Natsume went to Spades way more often after she chose it as her go-to work area.

As Natsume unlocked his door, Mikan stood frozen.

_Wait, did he just say "date"? _She blushed.

"You coming?" Natsume stood halfway through the door frame.

"Into your dorm? Why?" Mikan suddenly felt very nervous.

"Well, I need to shower before I go. Do you want to wait for me out here instead?"

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, I'll come in." Mikan brushed past Natsume and made her way to the couch in the boys' living room.

"The rest of the guys are out right now, so you can do whatever you want while you wait."

Mikan found herself frozen again. _Natsume and I are alone? In his dorm? _

"HAH. What do you think I would do? Look through your guys' stuff?" Mikan forced herself to speak and immediately regretted it.

"No? I meant, like, you can use the TV," Natsume said slowly. He watched her as she fidgeted on the couch. She looked like an overexcited puppy. Cute.

"Oh. Right. I'll see what's on." Mikan picked up the remote and flipped through the channels until Natsume disappeared into the bathroom. As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned back and let out a huge sigh. She'd been in the boys' dorm before, but this was the first time she'd ever felt so self-conscious.

_Am I really about to go on a date with Natsume? Can this even be considered a date? Oh, god, how do I look?_

She got up from the couch and went off in search of a mirror. A quick scan of her surroundings told her that the kitchen and living room didn't have one, so she headed toward the bedrooms. The door to one bedroom gaped partly open, and Mikan slipped through, being careful not to move or touch the door at all. She didn't want to leave a single trace of her intrusion.

She looked around the room. A bed with black and grey sheets took up one corner to her right and across from it a desk on which textbooks and folders were neatly piled up. A small bookshelf was stationed next to the desk, and besides books, it held a few picture frames. Completely forgetting about the mirror, Mikan took a few steps toward the picture frames and kneeled down to get a better look.

There were four pictures. Two of them showed scenery, one being a shot of a forest and the other being that of the sky at dusk. The remaining two were group photos. One picture contained all the guys; they looked like they were at a party of some sort. The last picture was obviously a family photo, and as soon as Mikan's eyes settled on it, she realized whose room she was in.

She saw a family of four with an attractive father and mother, a cheerful daughter, and an emo-looking Natsume. Mikan chuckled. The date printed at the edge of the picture told her that it was taken three years ago, but Natsume really looked the same.

"I thought you were watching TV."

"Holy sh—" For the second time that morning, Natsume managed to sneak up on Mikan.

The first time wasn't that bad because Mikan had only been shocked. Yes, the first time could not even compare to the second time because the second time Mikan felt much more than shocked.

Why? Because Natsume Hyuuga stood before her with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.


	13. Chapter 13

So, there Mikan was. In Natsume's room. With Natsume. Who wore only a towel.

"Excuse me?" Mikan's throat felt dry. She tried her best to look at anything but Natsume, but that proved to be pretty difficult since he stood right in front of her.

"I said," Natsume planted his hands on his knees and leaned down until he reached Mikan's eye level, "I thought you were watching TV."

"Uh…" Mikan couldn't say anything as she stared at Natsume's body. His very naked body.

"Do you like the view?"

"Get the fuck away from me!" Her position kneeling on the floor limited her choice of attacks, but she did her best. She fell back and slid her legs out from underneath her. In one quick motion, she kicked Natsume's ankles, which made him stagger backwards until he fell on his bed.

"HEY." He sounded mad. Mikan dashed out of the bedroom and out of the boys' dorm. She raced down the hallway and waited for the elevator to open. When she heard footsteps behind her, she turned around.

"OH MY GOD. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Mikan watched in panic as Natsume stalked down the hallway, still clad in only a towel.

"YOU PERVERT!"

"Oh, I'm the pervert? You were the one checking me out just now!" Natsume cornered her against the elevator door. "So, what were you doing in my room?"

"Oh my god, oh my god. Get away!" Mikan pushed Natsume, and while doing so, she felt his abs. His very hard, sculpted abs. She felt really lightheaded.

Natsume observed Mikan amusedly. Her face was hilariously red. "You look like a lobster."

His comment made Mikan turn even more red. "Sh-shut up. MOVE."

Instead, Natsume placed one hand on the elevator door and let his other hand hold his towel in place.

"Answer my question. What were you doing in my room?" She could almost hear the smirk on his face.

"I WAS LOOKING FOR A MIRROR." Mikan closed her eyes, even though doing so wouldn't make her feel any less embarrassed.

"A mirror?"

"Yes, a goddamn mirror!"

"Why'd you need a mirror?"

"WHY DO YOU THINK I NEEDED A MIRROR?"

"Uh, to check yourself out?"

"Wow, you're so smart! NOW MOVE!" Mikan blindly thrusted her hands out and felt them land on something fuzzy. It was Natsume's towel.

"Woah, keep your hands to yourself please." Natsume stepped away from Mikan as she opened her eyes, pulled back her hands, and fell to the ground.

_Ding!_ The elevator doors finally opened, but by that point, it was already too late to save Mikan.

* * *

Kitsu just finished his gym session and planned to go back to the dorm, clean up his bedroom, and get started on his lab report for his physics class. However, as soon as the elevator doors slid open on his floor, that plan flew out of his mind.

He took in the scene in silence. Mikan kneeled on the floor just outside the elevator, and in front of her stood a half-naked Natsume. He had his arms crossed and merely nodded at Kitsu before returning to stare at Mikan.

"Um, am I interrupting something?" Kitsu asked as he got off the elevator.

"KITSU, HELP ME." Mikan grabbed onto Kitsu's leg as he attempted to get past her. Natsume's eyes narrowed at the sight of Mikan clinging to another guy.

"Right, right. Mikan, what's up?" Kitsu noticed Natsume's unhappy expression and kneeled down to pry Mikan's hands off his leg. He knew better than to get in Natsume's way when it came to something Natsume liked, whether it be food, a game, or a girl.

"Can't you see? Natsume's being a pervert!" She pointed at Natsume, who scoffed before heading back to the boys' dorm.

Natsume slammed the door to the dorm shut, muffling the sound of Mikan complaining to Kitsu.

* * *

A few minutes later, Natsume reemerged from the boys' dorm, properly dressed in dark jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. He spotted Mikan and Kitsu still chatting by the elevator.

"Have you tried working in the school library? It's quiet there." Mikan must've told Kitsu of her search for a new work area.

"Yeah, but it's so boring. I fall asleep really easily."

"Hey, ready to go?" Natsume approached them.

Mikan glared at him. "I don't want to go with you anymore. Kitsu can show me around."

"Uh...Mikan, I actually have something to do," Kitsu apologized.

For a second, Mikan looked like she had just experienced the greatest betrayal of the century, but she recovered quickly.

"That's fine! Sorry to bother you! I'll just ask someone else." Mikan pulled out her phone, and Natsume saw her scroll through her contacts until she stopped at a number and started to call it.

While waiting for whoever she was calling to answer, she looked at Natsume and made an ugly face. He rolled his eyes in response. Sometimes she could be such a kid.

"Why're you so mad?"

"Oh, I don't know, Natsume. MAYBE BECAUSE YOU TRIED TO FLASH ME?"

Kitsu took her screaming as his cue to leave. He slipped into the boys' dorm away from the pair.

"Sorry. I thought you could handle it since you've seen so many hotter guys in Kabukicho," he said bitterly.

"I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM NAKED!"

Natsume cracked a smile at that.

"Natsume, I swear to god— Oh, hi! Kaname, I have a favor to ask you…" As soon as her phone call was answered, Mikan stepped away from Natsume, whose smile disappeared as soon as it had appeared.

_Kaname? Who the hell is Kaname?_


	14. Chapter 14

Natsume didn't like what he saw. Mikan stood just a few feet away from him, excitedly chatting on the phone to this Kaname person. It's like she forgot Natsume was even there, and at that moment, Natsume really wished he wasn't. After another minute or two, she finally hung up.

"Who's Kaname?" Natsume asked her, regretting how spiteful he sounded as he did so.

"He's a friend from the _Alicean Agenda_. He'll show me around," Mikan answered cooly as she pressed the button for the elevator.

"What about me?" Again he sounded spiteful, and he hated it.

"You said you had only a few hours to kill, right? Kaname's free all of today, so we can hit up a lot more places."

_Ding!_ The elevator doors slid open, and Mikan stepped inside. She gave Natsume a small wave of goodbye before the elevator closed and took her away from him.

* * *

Kitsu had just finished his shower when he heard a door slam shut. He peeked out of the bathroom to see Natsume heading back to his bedroom.

"Hey. Thought you were going somewhere with Mikan."

"What made you think that?"

"Uh, earlier you asked if she was ready to go."

"Well, something came up. She's going somewhere with some Kaname guy." Natsume scowled when he said Kaname's name.

"Ah~ Kaname Sono? I know of him. Quite the charmer, that guy. Natsume, are you by any chance jealous?" Kitsu waited to see how Natsume would react, and Natsume's reaction didn't disappoint.

Natsume hurried into his bedroom, seeking refuge from Kitsu's prying questions. After hearing the lock on Natsume's door click, Kitsu slowly walked back to his own room with a goofy smile etched on his face.

_If only I had a camera_, he wished to himself. _What're the chances of seeing Natsume blush like that again?_

* * *

"Mikan! Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Mikan stood up from the bench outside the dorm buildings and turned toward the direction of Kaname's voice.

"No problem! I wasn't waiting long."

"Oh, thank goodness. Let's get started then." Kaname reached into his backpack and pulled out a piece of paper, which he handed to Mikan. "It's a list I made before heading here. It has all the locations we're going to check out today."

Mikan conducted a quick scan of the list. "I've already been to some of these, and I couldn't concentrate. Give me a few seconds to cross them off."

Kaname nodded and watched intently as Mikan eliminated six choices. That left twenty-two.

"If we head out now, we should be done by sixish," Kaname noted.

"Okie dokie artichokie! The future of my writing career is in your hands." Mikan smiled jokingly at Kaname, who laughed at her exaggeration.

_She really is adorable_, he thought.

* * *

Natsume checked the time on his phone for the nth time that day: 5:26 PM. Almost eight hours passed since he started hiding out in his room.

_Is Mikan back yet? _This entire time Natsume fought his urge to text her and ask where she was and what she was doing with Kaname, but obviously he would never do something like that. He at least had some dignity.

_She should be back by_ _now. _Before he gave himself time to hesitate, he got up and hurried out of his dorm to confirm this ... only to run into Hotaru and Ruka outside of the girls' dorm.

"Natsume! Where're you headed?" Ruka greeted him.

"Uh..." Natsume couldn't just say he was looking for Mikan. "I'm headed out."

"Oh, okay."

"Why're you with Imai?" Natsume gestured toward Hotaru, who leaned against the hallway wall a few steps behind Ruka.

"We just came back from Robotics Club."

"Since when were you in Robotics Club?"

"We just needed his insight on an invention that could be used on farm animals," Hotaru intervened.

"Yep, and you know how much I know about animals," Ruka said. "Anyway, Hotaru and I are going to go grab dinner. Do you want to come along?"

"No, you go ahead. I got something to do," Natsume declined. He needed to see if Mikan was in the dorm.

"If you say so. Let's go, Hotaru." The two of them headed toward the elevator. _Since when did Ruka and Imai get that close? _

_Ding!_ Hotaru and Ruka boarded the elevator, and Natsume pretended to be busy on his phone until they were out of sight.

"If you're looking for Mikan, she's not in the dorm," Hotaru called out to Natsume just before the elevator doors closed.

Natsume froze. At that moment, he didn't even care that Imai had seen through him so easily. _Mikan__'s still out with Kaname?_

* * *

By 6:20 PM, Kaname and Mikan sat outside the dorm buildings where they had met up earlier.

"No luck, huh?" Kaname could tell from Mikan's more tired than happy face that all twenty-two locations were misses for her.

"Yeah…Some places were too quiet, some were too loud…" Mikan sighed as she remembered all the places they'd gone to that day. Alice Academy's cafes, libraries, study rooms, and gardens just didn't click with her.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more help," Kaname apologized.

Mikan jumped up. "No, no, no! Don't apologize! If anything, I should be apologizing to you for wasting your day!"

"Haha, you don't have to be sorry about that. I'm glad I got to spend a day with a cute girl like you."

Mikan blushed. "There you go again with your compliments."

Kaname's problem was that he was too nice, especially to girls. He took chivalry to a whole other level, which led to a lot of misunderstandings. It wasn't until he started dating his childhood friend, Akane, that he learned to set boundaries.

"Oops. You know you're like a little sister to me."

"Of course I know, but seriously, if your girlfriend heard you, she would probably get jealous."

"Mm, got it. Since we're done here, I'm going to go meet up with her. Good luck finding another workspace! I'll try to think of some more options."

"Thanks!" Mikan started toward the doors of the dormitory.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Kaname pull out his phone and smile gently as he began to text someone, most likely Akane.

_Must be nice to be in love_.

* * *

Mikan found Natsume after stepping off the elevator when it reached her floor. Judging from the plastic bag he held, he must've been returning from somewhere.

"Hey," she greeted.

He stopped looking for his room key. "Hey."

"Are you going to ask how my search went?"

"Hm." In reality, he was dying to ask her how it went with Kaname, but he didn't want to come off as bitter.

"Well, I couldn't find a place. We went to over twenty places, and none of them could even compare to Spades."

Natsume felt an uncontrollable sense of satisfaction spread throughout his body. Of course Kaname wouldn't be able to recommend a good place; he didn't know Mikan like Natsume did. Natsume tried hard to maintain a stoic expression as he continued the conversation. "Where'd you guys go?"

Mikan pulled out Kaname's list from her satchel and handed it to Natsume. She waited as he went through the list.

_They went to cafes and gardens_, Natsume realized. He didn't like seeing Mikan chat with Kaname on the phone, and he despised the fact that they spent the entire day together touring Alice Academy's most popular date locations. He shoved the list back in Mikan's hands.

"Wait here," Natsume ordered as he found his room key and slipped into his dorm. Less than a minute later, he reappeared with a jacket on. "C'mon."

He headed toward the elevator, and Mikan followed him. "Hey, where are we going?"

"...Somewhere Kaname hasn't shown you."


End file.
